A Walk At Night
by soulioli
Summary: Ann reconnects with an old friend after a fight with the friends of an ex. (Written for Shuann Week 2019 Day 1: Meeting/Reunion)


It was just supposed to be a walk outside to clear his head.

If Akira were being honest, he needed this. Fresh air. Well, it wasn't exactly fresh due to the city pollution, but it was a step up from the stale air that made up the atmosphere of his apartment. He ran his hands through his hair, sighing when they came out to be slightly greasy. God….he was a mess today, wasn't he? All this homework, and he still had to eat and sleep and bathe.

Gross.

"_Will you just….ugh!...let go!" _

Akira paused, looking around. That voice didn't sound too far away, and it sounded…. strangely familiar, though he couldn't place it. He began to walk towards the origin of the voice, preparing himself to get in a fight.

"_No. Who do you think you are, bitch? You've got to stop being so independent." _

"_Excuse me? I _know _that you didn't just say that to _me."

Akira rounded the corner, and all at once, the stench of alcohol almost overwhelmed him. He grimaced, but pushed through it, looking around another corner that was home to an alleyway.

The scene wasn't particularly bad, but it wasn't good either. A curvy blonde woman was currently trying to free her wrist from a man's grip, who smelled of alcohol and looked as if he'd came off of the street. She was up against the wall, but her back was straight and it was very clear that the drunkard would have been on the losing end if this turned into a fight.

It was then that he recognized her.

Ann Takamaki, in the few years since he'd seen her, had gotten taller, and her hair had gotten longer, but she was still Ann. She still had those bright blue diamonds for eyes, and long, blonde hair that couldn't be tamed. And like her hair and eyes, her fiery personality hadn't gone away either.

The next few steps he took were fuzzy, but he knew he was in the middle of the alley's entrance when he said: "Ann?"

Bright blue diamonds glanced toward him in surprise. Evidently, she recognized him as well and she gave him a grateful smile. "Akira! I'm sorry I kept you waiting - you must have been thinking I stood you up!"

He had no clue what she was talking about, but he still played along and shrugged, suddenly wishing for some reason that he was in a better state to see her. "No problem, I was going to call you but figured you had a shoot come up."

"Not at all, dear." She turned back to the man, "Now, are you going to let go? I don't think my -" she stumbled for a second, before finally continuing, "_boyfriend_ would appreciate you touching me."

"Moving on quick, eh? I always knew you were reliant on a man." The drunkard sneered, letting her go.

That was when the blonde rolled her eyes and struck, bringing a heeled foot up to kick him between the legs. Akira rose an eyebrow, but the man just groaned and fell to the ground. She placed a foot on his back, perhaps digging her heel in a little harder than needed. Akira winced, almost feeling the pain that must have caused. "Now, be good and tell Takeshi that I have more than one use for my whip, yeah? And if you come back around then the same will apply to you."

He groaned again in answer, nodding. Ann removed her heel from his back and briskly made her way to her longtime friend, taking his hand pulling him off without so much as a word.

They kept their brisk pace all the way down the street, but Ann seemed to take one look at him and realize that she hadn't thought this far along. Akira only gave her a lazy smile. "My apartment's this way if you need to hideout for a bit."

She eyed him, clearly still on guard. Not that he could blame her….she'd just gotten out of a risky situation, and they hadn't seen each other in….what, five years? Six? He wanted to slap himself on the head. This probably looked like he was trying to make a move.

"Sure, you need to get cleaned up anyway." She said, smiling at him. And suddenly, it was like no time had passed at all.

He raised an eyebrow. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Well," she gestured down to her clothing, "I was planning on going out clubbing tonight, but I'm not really in the mood for it anymore. And I haven't seen you in a while….and you kind of saved my ass back there, so I think I owe you a meal, yeah?"

Akira hadn't looked her over up until that point, but when he did….he suddenly felt way too underdressed to even be seen with her. She was clad in red from head to toe, other than the pearl necklace around her neck. Red heels were matched with red lipstick and a red dress - a dress which, Akira noticed, was held up solely by her figure. Her hair was down, too, which was something he'd missed and hadn't realized it.

After a minute, he replied, turning his eyes so that they stared straight ahead. "You don't have to do that."

"But I want to. And you don't get a choice." Ann smiled, pulling on his arm .

"If the Queen says so, then I guess I must." He sighed overdramatically, pulling a laugh from the woman beside him.

All too soon, they arrived back at his apartment, and he escorted her in. Morgana let out a loud meow when he entered, seeming quite annoyed with his owner. Akira crouched down and pet him, sighing. "Yeah, I'm sorry buddy. I know I need to do all of this stuff so I can go to bed."

Ann peeked over his shoulder. "Akira, you got a cat and didn't tell me? No kitty pictures?"

She was given a half smile and a nod in response. "To be fair, it wasn't completely my idea. My friend from work found him and I didn't have the heart to tell the cat and the guy no."

Morgana seemed to notice that someone else was in his home now, and trotted to Ann, sniffing at her before ultimately purring and rubbing up against her legs.

"He's so cute!" She exclaimed, kneeling on the floor to properly pet him. The blonde's attention was fully on the cat, clearly enamored with the small creature. Despite the clutter around her at that moment, and how out of place she looked in the small apartment, she seemed to glow. It was only natural that Akira would stare, even if he didn't exactly mean to.

Eventually, she looked up and smiled at him, arching an eyebrow. "If you don't hurry and get ready, we're not going to be able to go out."

The boy seemed to snap out of his trance and quickly averted his gaze from her to his desk. Ah, shit, right. He had homework. Damn it….he chewed on his lip, finally looking back to the blonde. "Ah, I don't know, I have a lot of homework and I need to get it done…."

Ann's smile faded slightly, but she picked herself back up within what seemed like a nanosecond. "We can do a rain check, if you want. I can just say we ordered takeout." The woman paused for a minute, as if she were second-guessing herself, but then let out a breath and spoke her mind. "But personally, I think you need a break. You always had a habit of overworking yourself."

Akira sighed. She was right, and she had a good point. But would it really help him to put this off any longer? He continued to turn the thought over and over in his mind, as if it were a particularly hard to cook burger. The boy eventually came to a conclusion and let out a puff of air from his lips as a sign of his defeat. She'd gotten him, and if the victorious smile that was emerging on her lips was any indication, she knew it.

"I'll be out of the shower in 20 minutes."

Her grin furthered its domination of her face. "Okay! I'll be waiting out here~!"

Akira could only sigh and move on with his shower, wondering how she had convinced him to go out with her in the first place. He wasn't terribly surprised, however. Ann had always been like this. He turned on his heel and stalked out.

Ann, now left alone, stroked the cat and moved up to his desk, sitting down. The cat jumped into her lap, purring and rubbing against her stomach. Her lips stretched upwards.

"Let's see what he's studying, shall we?"

She flipped through his homework, noting that most of it involved some sort of numbers or reading. The thought of doing all of this made her scrunch her nose up, but Ann was a fast reader.

One thing that caught her eye above all was the booklet on his desk for learning English. There was some assigned reading, too, about the western culture and the words and phrases that they used.

She idly picked up a pen and a highlighter and went to work, waiting for her dinner partner's return.

* * *

When Akira stepped out of the shower, he'd been expecting that Ann would wander around the apartment, which she didn't need to comment on. Akira knew he wasn't keeping it the cleanest, but with the hell of college on his shoulders, and work...he didn't exactly have the time or motivation to deep-clean it every other week. (Well, except for when he was procrastinating, but most of the time he just had to suck it up.)

Though, now that he thought about it, a clean work space helped him a lot...hmm...maybe he should take a day off soon, and -

His thoughts were abruptly cut off when he entered the living room. Ann was enthralled with whatever she was reading, though her posture and the lazy scrawl of the pen she was holding suggested casual indifference. The ravenet bit his lip, suppressing a quiet sigh.

"What are you doing?"

Ann looked over to him, then, as if he'd just noticed she was in the room with him. He was dressed pretty nicely, in button-up and a nice pair of pants, but he was still toweling his hair off. She grinned at him, leaning back in the chair. "Your english work. Well, the reading, anyway. I just saved you like an hour or two of reading because I took notes. It's not hard to understand once you've got the basics down."

The college student gave a short sigh in response. "You just couldn't stay still, could you?"

She shrugged innocently. "What can I say? I just like being busy. Anyway, are you ready to go?"

He nodded at her. "Yeah, but you're going to have to get Morgana off of your lap."

The model glanced down, as if just now remembering the cat was there. In a short period of time, he'd fallen asleep completely on the young woman's lap. The observation caused her to scratch his head and smile at the cat, before ultimately picking him up and setting him on the floor.

He wasn't happy about it, but the cat scampered away to go eat. And now that the both of them were dressed, it was dinnertime. "Okay, done! Ready now?"

Akira took the towel off of his still slightly damp hair, shaking it out. It wasn't completely dry, he observed, but it would have to do for now. He slid his glasses on. "Of course. After you."

His date for the evening stood and gathered her things, then opening the door and walking out. He followed after, finding his keys and shoes along the way somewhere and ultimately following her until she stopped to hail a cab.

Tonight was certainly going to be interesting, if nothing else.

* * *

The cab driver she'd managed to flag down was a jovial, aging man. Akira opened the car door for Ann, allowing her to slide inside first. She flashed him a smile before doing so, leaving plenty of room for her friend to slide in beside her.

The young man wasted no time in doing so, shutting the door behind him. Their driver looked back at them. "Where to?"

Ann rattled off the name of some upscale restaurant that he knew and had been to, but hardly remembered, prompting the taxi driver to smile. "Ah, that's a great date spot. To be young and in love again."

The model flushed. "Actually, we're not going out, but...thank you. I pride myself on my food choices and I think that Akira will like it, too."

"Oh, are you not? That's not something I expected to see, but you see a lot on the job these days."

Ann continued to chat with him, though Akira found himself quiet and stuck on the idea of dating Ann. Of course he'd always thought about it - who hadn't? It was Ann they were talking about.

Literal model, puts others before herself, fiery Ann. And maybe, if he'd had more confident in high school, he would have asked her out. But with Kamoshida, and his criminal record...it just probably wouldn't have been the right time. Which sucked.

But, as he looked over at Ann, he noted the high flush on her cheeks and the way she almost seemed to be sad that they weren't dating. Maybe, just maybe, he should have taken that chance in high school, but...

Well, he supposed he wouldn't know now.

* * *

Though the taxi driver was a bit chatty for Akira's tastes, he and Ann hit it off, and soon, they were standing in front of their destination.

The interior was bright and ritzy, speckled with gold and red as if it were a dining room in a castle. Right in the lap of luxury. He'd been planning on paying, but now he wasn't sure if he could even afford it.

"Um, Ann, are you sure-"

"Yep! Now c'mon! I didn't make a reservation so I'm going to have to sweet talk the owner." She wrapped herself around his arm, making the young man flush. "And you just need to stay quiet and let me do my magic."

The young man nodded, ready to be pulled along by Ann. She tugged him inside, smiling at the staff who opened the door for her and heading straight to the receptionist.

He was a young man that Akira vaguely recognized from somewhere, probably from school or the like. Either way, he wasn't someone that Akira was particularly focused on, and from the looks of it, he wasn't focused on anyone but the model, either.

"Hello. How may I help you?"

Ann smiled brightly at him. "I need a table for two, please!"

The receptionist frowned at her slightly. "Miss, this is an establishment where a reservation is required."

"Oh..." She frowned. "I'm sorry! But it's my friend's birthday today, and I was looking to surprise him with something special...I don't suppose you have a secluded table somewhere?"

The receptionist bit his lip, seemingly swayed by the model's sadness. "Well, we have a table, but it's not secluded, ma'am."

"It needs to be secluded, though..." She leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. "There are paparazzi on my tail and I don't want them getting the wrong idea, you know? Of course, I wouldn't mind putting up a little more money in return for this favor..."

"Hmm, I think we might be able to open one up in a moment. Please take a seat." He was oddly compliant now that he knew about Ann's status and her willingness to put up a little extra cash for a favor, and it was then that Akira realized that he must have been a student. Only broke students took the chance to get a large tip instead of waiting for their next paycheck to get the funds. Ann beamed at him and then tugged her date for the night over to the waiting area.

Akira stared at her for a while. Just who was Ann Takamaki? How was she so convincing? Maybe she was some witch or something.

While he mused over what had just happened, Ann met his eyes, flushing under the feeling of his eyes on her. "W-What? Stop looking at me like that..."

"Oh, sorry, I just...how did you do that?"

She glanced up at him, wide eyes confused. "Huh? Do what?"

"Get us a table so quickly. It was like you charmed him or something..."

Ann gave a satisfied smile to him. "I just know how guys work." The model paused, glancing away from him. "Well, except for you."

"Except for me?"

"Mhm." She affirmed her statement, nodding. "But, that doesn't really have anything else to do with tonight."

Akira gave a quiet hum in what was seemingly agreement, and then the two fell silent.

The silence didn't last long, and was broken when the receptionist called their names and told them to follow a waiter back to a private table.

It was the only table in the small room, filled to the brim with gold and a red-velvet color. Streamers hung from the walls, and balloons danced on the ceiling. He glanced at Ann, who shrugged helplessly with a small smile.

Most of the decorations were blocked out, however, by the low lighting in the room. The most lighting came from the candles and flower petals on the table, which made Ann flush. She'd explicitly stated that they weren't dating, but just because she was doing something for him meant they had to have been dating, huh?

Akira shrugged and walked ahead of the waiter, pulling Ann's chair out for her and gesturing dramatically. He was teasing her, coming back into his old high school self. She grinned at him and took the seat, watching as he perched on the chair opposite her and grabbed the menu.

Ann had expected him to be more open and free when they were alone, but to see him actually have manners and know what he was ordering was a surprise. He seemed to be trying to console the business Akira and the Akira that she knew while he was in his presence, something that made her smile helplessly at him.

Soon enough, the waiter was sent away with their order and their meal was being prepared, all the while wine was set in front of them. Ann picked it up and took a sip, sighing blissfully after she'd swallowed.

"Ah, that's the stuff."

Akira rose an eyebrow and took a sip as well, not favoring the sweetness on his tongue but not minding it all that much. "I should have known you'd like Pinot Noir..." He sighed, smiling a little to himself.

"Mmm, I like sweets, what can I say?" She grinned at him. "So, tell me about yourself. What have you been up to?"

"Well, I'm attending Tokyo U, now...and majoring in business. I work nights most of the time for student loans and stuff, and I've got Morgana by my side."

"Business, huh? What made you want to go through with that?" Ann asked, eyes seeming to smile at him over the rim of her glass.

He shrugged. "I feel like, if I can make something I love to make and make a good community, then maybe I can use that money to do something good, you know? And I'll be able to spoil the people close to me, which I've always wanted to do."

"Hmm, yeah, you have. What's it like being with business students? Boring?"

"Oh, they're insane, Ann!" Akira shook his head. "They're absolute monsters. Like once, I left a party for maybe 30 minutes to pick up some chips or something, and then when I came back, people were naked and dancing on the table."

She laughed and took a sip from her wine. "Wow, I had no idea they were like that. Your life seems to be so.." she searched for the right word. "...colorful, lately."

"I've got more stories, too," He said flatly. "Between going to the biggest school for all of the offspring of CEO's and working my day job, it's crazy."

"I'd figure that they'd all be pretty dignified."

"So did I! Turns out that they're secretly really freaky. I guess being raised with the expectation that you'll take over a business someday really messes with you." He shrugged. Ann laughed once more.

"I guess we're not all what we appear to be, y'know?"

He nodded. "I do. So, how have you been?"

"I've been good! Modelling's going well, and I haven't been forced into any stupid PR relationships yet, so that's a plus."

"Oh, yeah? Do they do that sort of thing often?" Akira rose an eyebrow.

"I don't know. I mean, I'm not like an expert on PR and stuff, but it's weird seeing your friends 'in love' and then knowing that they hate their boyfriend behind closed doors."

"That would definitely be weird. But your modelling's been going well? Any stories?"

"Well, there was this one time..."

Akira listened as she rambled about her job, her friends, and all the ups and downs. It was a content, lazy sort of listen with lazy interjections that made a waterfall of giggles tumble from her lips, but it was a nice listen.

It made him feel at home, content to watch and listen, and before he knew it again, that tug he'd felt in high school was back in his chest.

It was something that made him blush and fumble over his words, made his mind drift off to other scenarios involving the two of them. It made him wonder what it would be like to come home to her shining face and stories about her work every day, because even though it wasn't his scene, she was so enthusiastic about it that it made him want to keep listening to her.

And just like that, he'd gone from not seeing Ann for months and being content with that to having the overwhelming urge to see her every day.

He was falling again, and he was going to hit the ground hard.

* * *

By the time they got out of the restaurant, the night had cooled and settled. Ann, despite his protests, ended up paying for the meal, stating that she had more money than she knew what to do with. He was sure that it was true, but it still made a little part of him feel ashamed that he couldn't pay that bill.

She smiled at him as they stepped out of the classy restaurant. "Thank you for tonight."

"It was no problem. Thank you again for paying."

The blonde winked at him. "Now what kind of friend would I be if I dragged you to dinner and didn't pay? That would just be rude."

"I guess so," he conceded. "But at least let me walk you home, or see you in."

"I live just a couple streets down, if you don't mind walking with me." She said, smiling at him. "It's sweet of you to walk me home."

He flushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I know you can handle yourself, but I think it would be rather rude of me to end things here, you know?"

Ann giggled, and then took his arm, dragging him along. This was precisely how he was content to be, just as long as it made Ann happy.

It looked like it made her happy, at least. She continued to banter with him as they made their way towards her house, beaming at him and making sure he smiled back. And smile he did. Her cheer seemed to be infectious, and if Akira were a bit more selfish, he'd have made a detour so as to prolong his time with the blonde.

But he wasn't, and instead just contently walked home with her, too caught up in her to notice how close they'd gotten to her apartment building.

He did notice when they stopped outside, however, glancing up at the upscale tower that she resided in.

The model let him go, standing across from him. "Oh, it looks like we're here already!"

Was it his imagination, or did she sound...sad? He glanced to her with a small smirk. "It's alright, it's not like you're never going to see me again."

"Yeah, but tonight was fun. I don't think I'd mind doing it again sometime."

His pulse sped. "Yeah, neither would I."

The two sat in silence for a moment as they looked up at the building, looking for the right words to say in this situation. Ann broke the silence, turning him to face her. "Oh, Akira!"

"Hm?"

"I meant to give you this." She was holding out some cash for him to take. He looked from the wad of cash to her face, which looked nervous.

"I didn't know we were participating in compensated dating." He said, pushing his glasses up with a straight face. Ann rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh, shut up, it's money for the cab back."

"You don't have to cover that," He objected, causing Ann to roll her eyes again.

"Just shut up and take it, okay?"

He took the wad of bills from her, sighing as he slid it in is pocket. It was then that she smiled, approaching him too. "Stay still, okay?"

"What for?"

"Do you have to keep questioning me?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Hmm, I guess I don't."

"That's more like it."

She approached him, then, and just as fast as she'd gotten in his face, she placed her lips on his cheek and quickly pulled them away, leaving Akira red in the face but Ann with a victorious smile on her face.

The blonde smiled at him and slid a card into his hand, tossing a casual "see you later, Akira!" over her shoulder before she was out of his view. He stared after her and raised a hand to his cheek, still gently holding the card in the other. She strode inside with easy steps and offered a wink before she slipped inside completely.

He glanced to the card in his hand. It was the business card of the restaurant that they'd just been at, which was weird. Habitually, he flipped it over and smiled to himself. On it was an equally casual message that read, "_Dinner?" _along with her phone number.

Akira stared at it for a minute, before finally grinning and slipping the card into his pocket.

If anyone else noticed him being extra cheerful for the next couple days, well, they certainly didn't say anything.

* * *

**A/N: And here's the second entry of day 2! This piece wasn't my best, but it definitely wasn't my worst. And, I figured I'd do just a bit of fluff if I was going to go heavy on the angst like I did earlier. I hope you guys liked this one!**

**As always, kudos, comments, and anything else you can do to show support are highly appreciated! They also let me know I'm doing something right when it comes to this whole writing thing. **  
**Thank you for reading!**


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